Climate Change: Another Reason to Break Up With Your Mega-Bank

You already know about the responsibility of US Mega-banks for the financial meltdown in 2008, but you may not realize the role they play in the larger planetary meltdown that will result from runaway climate change. Despite all claiming to care about climate change and seeing the need to invest in a cleaner future, the top US banks are all investing heavily in coal.

A recent report from BankTrack.org entitled Climate Killers finds that JPMorgan Chase, Citi, and Bank of America led banks worldwide in financing coal since 2005. Contrast this fact with these banks’ statements on climate change:

JPMorgan Chase: “Helping the world transition to a low-carbon economy”

Citi: “Most innovative bank in climate change”

Bank of America: “The most formidable challenge we face is global climate change”

The obvious conclusion is that they are saying all the right things, while doing whatever they think will be most profitable for them in the short run. Once again, our largest banks are giving us all the evidence we need to realize that they have learned nothing from the harms they caused in the past decade, and all the evidence we need that the only message they’ll hear is tens of thousands of customers pulling their money out and investing in community banks and credit unions instead.

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You might like this direct action protest I took on my own against Bank of America. It is an example of another form protests can take other than camping out to occupy a physical space. I called my credit card’s customer service line to do some negotiating. Having a bit of leverage, I thought it presented a great opportunity to mess with them a little and make a few points about the unfairness of the credit card lending system. I made a video of the call and posted it on my blog along with my comments about what happened, and a fuller director’s cut transcript. It is quite funny even if you are pro-megabank. Since it’s a protest at home, I called it my Kitchen Counterstrike Against Bank of America. http://www.ragingwisdom.com/?p=508